This year’s Excellence in Local Industry Awards is adding a little American Idol-style hype to its program with audience members text messaging their vote to determine the winner in one category.

Organizers of the seventh-annual awards ceremony, hosted by Greater Colorado Springs Chamber and EDC and the El Pomar Institute for Innovation and Commercialization, announced two finalists in seven categories of the awards program that aims to highlight local companies and products. Winners will be unveiled Oct. 16 at The Broadmoor.

Adding a bit of intrigue, one of the category winners will be determined by audience members who will vote by text message during the event, which will feature short videos of all the finalists.

The “People’s Choice” category is still a surprise, said Michael Larson, El Pomar Chair of Engineering and Innovation and master of ceremonies at the event. Audience members won’t find out which category they get to determine until the event.

The idea, Larson said, is to add a little fun to the evening, and to give audience members some ownership over deciding which local business they think is tops. Audience members will text the number of their favorite company and votes will be tallied in real time, Larson said.

“The people who attend that night will be able to vote after watching the videos,” Larson said. “All through the evening, people have the opportunity to vote.”

NAVSYS Corporation is a nationally recognized small business performing positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) technology development. Since 1986, we have supported both government and commercial customers delivering innovative PNT solutions.